It broke down and was replaced by either Star Wars or The Adams Family.

When you look at all the cool stuff pinball did in that period it's no surprise that the industry started to suffer. Those tables where incredible but must have cost a fortune and I doubt all the electromagnet effects helped the reliability. :(

I'm curious, cynic that i am. How many of these fully funded kickstarters actually deliver? What about the people/teams that get some huge funding then squander the cash (or spend rather unwisely) and end up declaring bankruptcy? Or just simply run off with the cash? What is the process of protection for the investors?

I suppose its just my lack of knowledge on how these kickstarters work. When you pledge is the money gone instantly? Or does paypal shift it across only when targets are reached?

I think if the target amount isn't reached by the cutoff date then nobody's credit cards get charged, but if they do pass that amount then they get the money straight away (on the cutoff date).

The Carmageddon one has extra "stretch goals" where, if the money pledged reaches higher amounts than the original goal, they'll develop extra features. For example, their original goal was $400k, but if it reaches $600k they'll develop Mac and Linux ports. If it reaches $650k they'll put Sim (one of their designers) in as an extra pratcam character, and if it reaches $750k they'll add split-screen and cooperative multiplayer modes.

I'm not sure if they pass their goal amount people can continue to back them after the cutoff date... I really should read up on how that works.

Stainless are probably a pretty safe bet because they're very experienced game devs, but I suppose you have to think more carefully before you back a bunch of teenagers who're going to build an antigravity device - they may well blow the lot on "teambuilding exercises" in Jamaica, then slope off after all the money's gone.

At least one fully funded game fucked up and spent the money and can't complete the game.

Only hindsight will allow us to see how many get finished. So far the hit rate is far higher than I'd expect but will the wave of games funded in the wake of Double Fine's success get made other than the ones from 'names'? I have no idea.

I looked into using kickstarter or something similar to fund a title last year but couldn't find a way to get the message out to a big enough audience legally in the UK. The contracts on Kickstarter aren't legal in the EU and the ones that are either don't have enough eyeballs or allow you to put your foot in it legally.

You have to prove a million things some of which have very important meanings to the government and the tax man like equity and securities. There are so many things you just can't say while raising money this way without opening yourself up to a damned good suing the vast majority of any money funded would have gone on legal bills and I would have had to keep my mouth shut for the length of the project. That wasn't going to happen :)

As it happens I couldn't start the project anyway due to the way extensions of the various copyright acts where applied in the UK just proving that legally making games isn't as easy as we'd all like it to be.

The work I was basing it on is out of copyright in the US (and internationally in most territories) but as the artist died in the late 50's the work (which was published in 1906) is still under protection here until 2028 (or 29 can't remember if it's the january 1st of the 70th year or the first one after the 70th year) due to one of the copyright acts being retrospectively applied here but not in most other territories. Just discovering who I'd need to approach and making that approach would cost a bloody fortune. If I wasn't based in the UK I'd make it anyway and not release here but making it here is also a grey area.

Still not entirely over it and may well do the game with a few changes to how the narrative is presented (which is the cause of concern)